Indy requirements etc.

I've got some very basic questions regarding Indy's. At work we're replacing two Indy's, so I figured I could play with them till they have to be dumped (yes government, can't get them for myself). Both have a 1G HD. 800MB is used up by IRIX6.2. I am wondering if I could just wipe out IRIX and use it as a Linux-only system?

I use RedHat 6.0 at home and I was wondering if a newer HardHat release will become available anywhere in the near future.

SGI Belgium stated they'll ship their Intel systems with SGI Linux (RedHat + proprietary ad-ons). Will this impact HardHat in any way?